The present invention relates to a method for selecting suitable peers CL1-CL5 in a peer to peer network for content downloading. The method comprises: Requesting addresses of peers possessing a specified content. Receiving to an operator node MON4, a reply comprising the requested addresses. Modifying 3 the reply, which modifying is based on operator preference available to the operator node. Sending the modified reply to a requesting client.

Patent
   8631072
Priority
Dec 03 2008
Filed
Dec 03 2008
Issued
Jan 14 2014
Expiry
Sep 02 2029
Extension
273 days
Assg.orig
Entity
Large
5
11
EXPIRING-grace
14. A node for selecting suitable peers in a peer to peer network for content downloading, the node comprising:
a receiver to receive a reply comprising addresses of peers holding at least a portion of a requested content, wherein the reply is transmitted in response to a request transmitted by a client;
a processor to modify the reply, which modifying is based on operator preference available to the node; and
a transmitter to send the modified reply to the client.
1. A method for selecting suitable peers in a peer to peer network for content downloading, the method comprising:
receiving at an operator node, a reply to a request, which request was transmitted by a client, for addresses of peers possessing at least a portion of specified content, the reply comprising a set of one or more peer addresses, wherein each peer address included in the set is an address of a peer that possesses at least a portion of the specified content;
modifying the reply based on operator preference information available to the operator node; and
sending the modified reply to the client.
19. Article of manufacture comprising a program storage device having a computer readable code embodied therein to select suitable peers in a peer to peer network for content downloading, which computer readable program code comprises:
computer readable program code for receiving a reply comprising a set of one or more requested addresses, wherein the reply is transmitted in response to a request for peer addresses transmitted by client;
computer readable program code for modifying the reply based on available operator preference information; and
computer readable program code for sending the modified reply to the client.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein a central tracker (T) receives the request for addresses and the reply is sent from the central tracker (T) to the operator node.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein a distributed database (DDB) receives the request for addresses and the reply is sent from the distributed database (DDB) to the operator node.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein an unstructured P2P system is used for searching for the specified content and the reply is sent from peers in the peer to peer network to the operator node.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the modified reply includes some but not all of the addresses included in the reply and the addresses included in the reply but not included in the modified reply are cached for later usage.
6. The method of claim 5, further comprising transmitting to the client a message containing one of the cached addresses.
7. The method of claim 5,
further comprising receiving a second reply to a second request transmitted by the client, modifying the second reply to create a modified second reply, and transmitting to the client the modified second reply, wherein the second reply comprises a second set of one or more peer addresses and the modified second reply comprises a subset of the second set of one or more peer addresses and/or one of the cached addresses.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the modified second reply comprises one of the cached addresses.
9. The method of claim 1,
further comprising receiving at the operator node the request transmitted by the client.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the modifying step comprises identifying a peer addresses included in the set of peer addresses that is an addresses of a peer located in different operator network than the operator network in which the operator node is located and not including the identified peer address in the modified reply.
11. The method of claim 1, which modification utilizes measurement tools if peers are located in several access networks within an operator network.
12. The method of claim 1, which modification utilizes additional addresses to peers from a selection of premium nodes.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein certain traffic received from the peer to peer network to the operator node marked in order to give it a correct prioritization in a traffic receiving access network.
15. The node of claim 14, the node further comprising interception and/or capturing means to monitor requests.
16. The node of claim 14, which node is enabled with network performance tools.
17. The node of claim 14, which node is enabled with deep packet inspection tools used to extract a received reply message.
18. The node of claim 14, which node utilizes an additional distributed tagging function used to mark certain traffic in order to give it correct prioritization through a traffic receiving access network.

This application is a 35 U.S.C. §371 National Phase Entry Application from PCT/SE2008/051397, filed Dec. 3, 2008, and designating the United States.

The present invention relates to methods and arrangements for selecting suitable peers in a peer to peer network for content downloading.

The increased bandwidth introduced by the penetration of broadband and the availability of enhanced terminal capabilities, content creation and publishing tools has significantly increased in availability on the Internet of user generated content, e.g. YouTube, Podcasting, etc. Content aggregators such as Joost, BBC iPlayer are also becoming established sources of legal online content.

Peer-to-peer technology has shown itself as a viable technology for distributing user generated content and technology of choice of the content aggregators. For example, the iPlayer utilizes an IMP P2P client. Often referred to simply as peer-to-peer, or abbreviated P2P, peer-to-peer architecture is a type of network in which each workstation has equivalent capabilities and responsibilities. This differs from client/server architectures where some computers are dedicated to serving the others. The P2P network distributes the computing power between connected peers in the network and utilizes the aggregated resources, e.g. network available bandwidth, for efficient content distribution. P2P is often used as a term to describe one user linking with another user to transfer information and files through the use of a common P2P client to download material, such as software upgrades or media files.

When downloading content using P2P clients, pieces or chunks of the selected file are gathered from several nodes simultaneously in order to decrease download time and to increase robustness of the P2P network. The set of peers to download data chunks from has been selected by a so called Tracker which functions as a gateway between peers in the P2P network. It gathers information on which peers have what data chunks and spread that information to any requesting peer. The tracker can be located anywhere on the network.

A recent trend in the Internet is the use of P2P technology to build content distribution networks. Examples of commercial systems include Velocix from CacheLogic and Gridcasting from GridNetworks. Based on recent trends like those in the UK with BBC's IP player, an assumption is that P2P technology will be used by content providers in the near future as a cheap way to distribute content. At some point network operators themselves may turn to using P2P for content distribution, in particular video distribution. In any case the operators would first need to manage the P2P traffic in their networks. For traffic of over-the-top P2P applications, the operator would like to keep the peering traffic low as well as improving the end-user experience. This requires techniques and mechanisms that are operator specific to complement the already existing Internet-based methods.

In P2P systems based on Tracker architecture when a client requests content, it contacts the Tracker in order to obtain addresses of peers having the desired data chunks. The Tracker replies with a so called tracker response to the client which contains a list of addresses to peers having the data. For example, in the BitTorrent protocol the list of peers in the tracker response is by default 50, if the number of available peers is equal or above 50. If there are more peers that have the desired chunk of content, the tracker randomly selects peers to include in the response, or the tracker may choose to implement a more intelligent mechanism for peer selection when responding to a request. This selection can for example be made based on locality, network measurements and similar. All based on the viewpoint of the Tracker.

The problem is that much locality information and other operator specific information is not usually available to a central Internet based Tracker. Further, the Tracker may not always take the operator needs into account—such as keeping traffic local to the operator at hand. The same type of problem appears if the P2P system is based on Distributed Hash Table DHT-like algorithms.

The present invention relates to problems of managing P2P traffic. The invention focuses on improving the way of selecting peers to download content by utilizing the operator's information about the distribution network. Further more, a method is proposed which enables an operator provided a premium P2P service. The premium service enables end users to access content using P2P over a prioritized connection in a managed network which is offered by the operator as an extra service.

The problem of managing P2P traffic is solved by a method for selecting suitable peers for content downloading. The method comprises:

The invention describes mechanisms and techniques for selecting the peers to download content based on operator preference. Basically, the method involves modification of for example a tracker response (also called Reply), based on operator specific information, or in the case of for example a DHT-like P2P system it can block or modify responses from other peers based on the operator specific information. According to one exemplary embodiment a P2P tracker is used as search mechanism to find peers possessing required content. A reply from the tracker is modified in the operator node before it is forwarded to a requesting client. Connections are established by the requesting client to clients found in the modified reply.

According to another exemplary embodiment an unstructured P2P system is used as search mechanism to find peers possessing required content. Responses from the peers are either let through to a requesting client or blocked. Addresses of peers not fulfilling operator preference are blocked and may be cached for later usage. In this embodiment the requesting client is unable to establish connections to clients that were let through and a further request is sent to find peers possessing required content.

Yet another embodiment represents a method for selecting suitable peers when the modification utilizes additional addresses to peers from a selection of “premium nodes”.

The invention makes it possible to modify a reply in order to make the client to download content based on e.g. locality. This has the potential to improve the end-user experience while at the same time it can reduce the peering traffic. This gives the following advantages:

The invention will now be described more in detail with the aid of preferred embodiments in connection with the enclosed drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block schematic illustration disclosing a plurality of clients connected via various access networks to internet. A central P2P Tracker is located in the internet. Clients may communicate with the tracker via a monitoring node.

FIG. 2 discloses a signal sequence diagram that represents a method for selecting suitable peers when a P2P tracker is used as search mechanism.

FIG. 3 discloses a signal sequence diagram that represents a method for selecting suitable peers when an unstructured P2P system is used as search mechanism.

FIG. 4 discloses a block schematic illustration of a P2P monitoring node.

FIG. 5 discloses a signal sequence diagram that represents a method for selecting suitable peers when a P2P tracker is used as search mechanism and when a modification utilizes additional addresses to peers from a selection of “premium nodes”.

FIG. 6 discloses a flow chart illustrating some essential method steps of the invention.

FIG. 1 discloses according to an exemplary embodiment, a peer to peer P2P network that includes plural clients CL1-CL5 connected via various access networks AN1-AN3 to INTERNET. The figure discloses a very simplified example and the number of clients are in the reality much higher. The clients CL1-CL5 may be, for example, a mobile phone, a computer, a set top box, or other devices that are capable of exchanging information with the internet. The access networks AN1-AN3 may be, for example, a communication network, a phone network, an internet service provider, etc. In this embodiment a first operator OP1 is accessible in AN1-AN3 and a second operator OP2 is accessible in access network AN1. CL1 and CL2 are both attached to OP1/AN3, CL3 is attached to OP1/AN2, CL5 to OP2/AN1 and CL4 is attached to OP1/AN1. An operator node MON4 also called operator P2P Monitor is located in the AN1 and is part of OP1. A P2P Monitor MON5 is located in AN1 and is part of OP2, MON3 is located in AN2 and is part of OP1 and MON12 is located in AN3 and is part of OP1. A central tracker T is located within the Internet. The tracker functions as a directory service for the clients, also called peers, in the P2P network. A P2P tracker may be any P2P searching mechanism (e.g. the BitTorrent tracker system). The tracker gathers information on which peers have what data chunks and spread information to any requesting peer. In FIG. 1 a distributed database DDB can be seen. The DDB functions as a decentralized tracker. This will be further explained when a first embodiment is discussed. In this first embodiment that will be explained more in detail in FIG. 2 a method for selecting suitable peers for content downloading will be shown. The central tracker T hereby receives a request 1 for addresses of peers possessing a specified content. The tracker response 2 is captured by the P2P monitor MON4. According to the invention, the response is modified based on operator preferences available in MON4. The modifying is shown in FIG. 1 with a hexagon symbol 3. The modified response is sent to a requesting client CL4.

A method according to the first embodiment of the invention will now be explained more in detail together with FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a signal sequence diagram wherein the signalling points CL4, MON4, T, CL1 and CL3 that were briefly explained earlier together with FIG. 1 have been disclosed. A prerequisite for the method is that a requesting client by some means know the address of a tracker which has information about which peers that possess the desired content for example by downloading a torrent file such as BitTorrent, well known by a person skilled in the art. The method comprises the following steps:

The request for data chunks that was sent 10 from the client CL4 to the central tracker T may be intercepted by MON4 for later usage in case other clients in OP1/AN1 requires the same data chunks and if the chunks already have been stored in the P2P monitor.

If the client was unable to establish a connection to peers from the list in the modified response for example if the peer has left the P2P network, or if the aggregated download speed from the selected peers is too low the requesting client could request another set of peers from the P2P tracker T. This request can also be intercepted by MON5. The set of peers may be reassembled using the cached/stored addresses, i.e. in this example the address for CL5, together with the modification operator policy. If there is not enough cached peer addresses, the request is forwarded to the tracker and the before described sequence is repeated. This will be explained more in detail in a second embodiment. To prevent the requesting client from “starving”, the operator policy may hereby be less particular.

Instead of using a tracker as search mechanism, a Distributed Hash Table may be used. One of the central parts of a P2P system is a directory service. Basically the directory service is a database which contains IP addresses of peers that have a specific content. In a centralized P2P implementation this directory is called tracker (as discussed above), in a distributed P2P implementation it is called Distributed Hash Table DHT. In DHT a plurality of distributed databases DDB resides on many peers rather than in a single node like in the tracker case; hence it is a distributed database DDB. The DHT algorithm is well known by persons skilled in the art. In this variation of the first embodiment instead of sending the request from the requesting client to the tracker, the request is forwarded to the most appropriate peer in accordance to the DHT implementation which is known to a person skilled in the art. So, instead of the tracker responding back with the list of IP addresses of peers with the desired content, the found peer possessing the IP addresses will respond back and deliver the list. The method of operation in the P2P Mon node is similar compared to the P2P tracker case.

While in the first embodiment the tracker or alternatively the DHT algorithm gathers information on which peers have what data chunks and spread information to a requesting peer, instead another way of searching may be done. This will now be described in a second embodiment. Not all P2P networks are based on DHT or on a central tracker that has information on which chunks of data are located where. Another P2P search solution is to use a so called unstructured P2P system UPS for searching content. The unstructured P2P system is well known by persons skilled in the art. When using UPS the requests for data chunks do not have to pass a central database, instead it is sent directly to the responsible peers. The peers that have the content would respond according to the UPS-like P2P implementation and answer directly to the requesting peer. The method of operation in the P2P Mon node is similar compared to the P2P tracker case; however there are some minor differences as described below.

FIG. 3 discloses the second embodiment of the invention wherein the search is done by the unstructured P2P system UPS. In FIG. 3 the same network configuration applies as was previously shown in FIG. 1, except that the tracker T has been excluded. Instead of using the central tracker for the search for content, in FIG. 3 UPS is used. In the figure, search according to the unstructured P2P system is schematically represented with a block symbol UPS. The method according to the second embodiment of the invention comprises the following steps:

FIG. 4 discloses more in detail the peer to peer monitor P2P Mon 60 that has been discussed earlier in the application together with the FIGS. 1-3. In the previous figures the P2P Mon 30 was represented by for example MON4.

The requirements on the P2P Mon are as follows:

This section describes the actual anatomy of the P2P monitor node—or the functionality of the P2P modifier which can be co-located with other functionality in one common physical node. As can be seen in FIG. 4, the P2P monitor 60 comprises three main blocks i.e. an interception block, a processing block and a re-generation block. A response from a tracker or from a peer is received to a receiver 61 and forwarded to the interception block.

The interception block is responsible for extracting/capturing the response message from the tracker or other peers. This is done by implementing deep packet inspection DPI. A DPI module 62 is disclosed within the interception block. Optionally decryption could be applied to the traffic from the tracker. Once the response is extracted from the traffic, it's parsed making it possible for other modules to further process the data. A parsing module 63 is disclosed in the figure within the interception block. The parsing must be done in accordance to the P2P system in question, hence the parsing pattern of for example the different flavors of Bittorent protocol would be different from each other. The details of how to handle different P2P protocol implementations are stored in a database 67 of P2P protocol patterns.

The processing block is responsible for the ordering of a list of seeds or peers holding content in accordance to the operator policy. Depending on implementation, it could perform; ordering of the existing seed list, removing some addresses of seeds, or even adding totally new address of content seeds. A filtering module 64 and an insertion module 65 can be seen in FIG. 3 within the processing block. In the case where addresses were removed, a memory module 70 would store the removed addresses. A removed address may be used in case the requesting client is not able to successfully obtain content from the modified list of seeds. To prevent the requesting client from ‘content starvation’ the addresses of removed seeds can be provided when the client makes a re-request for content seeds. It should be obvious that the processing block also can modify or drop replies from other peers if the P2P system is based on a Distributed Hash Table DHT search system instead of a centralized tracker, or an unstructured P2P system as has been seen in FIG. 3 when the second embodiment was described.

The re-generation block is responsible for reassembling the tracker response which by this point has the seed addresses in accordance to the operator's policy. A repackaging module 66 is disclosed in FIG. 4 within the re-generation module. Encryption is optional and is done if the initial tracker response was encrypted. A modified response can be forwarded from P2P Mon 60 to a requesting peer via a sender 71.

An operator policy holder 69 is connected to an operator policy interface 68. Different modification policies can be held by the policy holder 69. Examples on modification policies are:

In order to prioritize and handle P2P traffic in the access network, an additional distributed P2P tagging function can be implemented. This tagging function is under control by the P2P Mon and can be used to mark certain traffic differently in order to give it correct prioritization through the access network. This could either be by marking P2P premium subscribers' traffic with specific 802.1p-bits for Ethernet priority. It can also mean that the P2P tagging function can put special VLAN-tags on the traffic in order to direct it to another network. By marking the traffic with specific 802.1p-bits, the whole access network can queue the traffic according to policies, all the way from the access node, through the whole network. Since the 802.1p-bit marking takes place in operator equipment, this marking can of course be translated into DCSP bits if needed. Other translation schemes (MPLS LSPs and others) are possible too. The P2P Tagging function should be seen as a broken out function from the P2P Mon itself. The tagging function does not contain any complex mechanisms, it is meant to be a light weight function that should be easy to implement. By combining the P2P Mon, the P2P tagging function and connections to a subscriber database, very advanced services and new revenue streams can be envisioned. Premium content can be a subscriber only service and content service providers can get paid for premium content. This also opens up for the ideas that STIM (Svenska Tonsättares Internationella Musikbyrå) proposed—a legal, voluntary filesharing tax that should be connected to broadband services. The P2P Mon and premium network connections could be one way of solving the technical issues that still remained unsolved when the file sharing tax idea was proposed. FIG. 5 discloses a signal sequence diagram according to a third embodiment of the invention that represents a method for selecting suitable peers when the modification utilizes additional addresses to peers from a selection of “premium nodes”. Beyond entities disclosed and explained in the earlier embodiments, FIG. 5 discloses an access node DSLAM that is responsible for tagging selected traffic. In FIG. 5 clients in the P2P network are represented with the reference signs CL1-CL10. The method according to the third embodiment comprises the following steps:

FIG. 6 discloses a flow chart illustrating some essential method steps of the invention. The flow chart is to be read together with the earlier shown figures. The flow chart comprises the following steps:

A system that can be used to put the invention into practice is schematically shown in the FIG. 1 and FIG. 4. Enumerated items are shown in the figure as individual elements. In actual implementations of the invention, however, they may be inseparable components of other electronic devices such as a digital computer. Thus, actions described above may be implemented in software that may be embodied in an article of manufacture that includes a program storage medium. The program storage medium includes data signal embodied in one or more of a carrier wave, a computer disk (magnetic, or optical (e.g., CD or DVD, or both), non-volatile memory, tape, a system memory, and a computer hard drive.

The systems and methods of the present invention may be implemented for example on any of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), American National Standards Institute (ANSI) or other standard telecommunication network architecture. Other examples are the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) or The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

The description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, sets forth specific details, such as particular components, electronic circuitry, techniques, etc., in order to provide an understanding of the present invention. But it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced in other embodiments that depart from these specific details. In other instances, detailed descriptions of well-known methods, devices, and techniques, etc., are omitted so as not to obscure the description with unnecessary detail. Individual function blocks are shown in one or more figures. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that functions may be implemented using discrete components or multi-function hardware. Processing functions may be implemented using a programmed microprocessor or general-purpose computer. The invention is not limited to the above described and in the drawings shown embodiments but can be modified within the scope of the enclosed claims.

Kolhi, Johan, Damola, Ayodele, Johnsson, Andreas

Patent Priority Assignee Title
11144952, Nov 13 2013 BRIGHT DATA LTD Behavioral content discovery
11720915, Nov 13 2013 BRIGHT DATA LTD Behavioral content discovery
9026412, Dec 17 2009 International Business Machines Corporation Managing and maintaining scope in a service oriented architecture industry model repository
9111004, Dec 17 2009 International Business Machines Corporation Temporal scope translation of meta-models using semantic web technologies
9788337, Dec 12 2012 GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP , LTD Data transmission method applied to a base station, a data receiving method applied to a user equipment, a data transmission device applied to a base station, and a data receiving device applied to each user equipment in a UE group
Patent Priority Assignee Title
7920572, Sep 20 2005 Cisco Technology, Inc Modifying operation of peer-to-peer networks based on integrating network routing information
8417677, Jun 02 2006 DUAXES Corporation Communication management system, communication management method and communication control device
20040064568,
20040064693,
20040181575,
20050144288,
20070064702,
20080235746,
20100138382,
EP1821487,
WO2004047408,
////
Executed onAssignorAssigneeConveyanceFrameReelDoc
Dec 03 2008Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (publ)(assignment on the face of the patent)
Dec 04 2008DAMOLA, AYODELETELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET L M ERICSSON PUBL ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS 0263860553 pdf
Dec 04 2008JOHNSSON, ANDREASTELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET L M ERICSSON PUBL ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS 0263860553 pdf
Dec 04 2008KOLHI, JOHANTELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET L M ERICSSON PUBL ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS 0263860553 pdf
Date Maintenance Fee Events
Jul 14 2017M1551: Payment of Maintenance Fee, 4th Year, Large Entity.
Jul 14 2021M1552: Payment of Maintenance Fee, 8th Year, Large Entity.


Date Maintenance Schedule
Jan 14 20174 years fee payment window open
Jul 14 20176 months grace period start (w surcharge)
Jan 14 2018patent expiry (for year 4)
Jan 14 20202 years to revive unintentionally abandoned end. (for year 4)
Jan 14 20218 years fee payment window open
Jul 14 20216 months grace period start (w surcharge)
Jan 14 2022patent expiry (for year 8)
Jan 14 20242 years to revive unintentionally abandoned end. (for year 8)
Jan 14 202512 years fee payment window open
Jul 14 20256 months grace period start (w surcharge)
Jan 14 2026patent expiry (for year 12)
Jan 14 20282 years to revive unintentionally abandoned end. (for year 12)